Ms. Li Suyun and Mr. He Yaoduo Inhumanly Persecuted

Ms. Li Suyun Sentenced to Forced Labour While Her Children Cried for their Mother

Ms. Li Suyun, 37, from Ma'an Village, Longtou Township, Wuchang began practising Falun Gong in 1998. In November 2005, Ms. Li Suyun was reported to authorities while distributing leaflets exposing the persecution and telling people the facts about Falun Gong in Shulan County, Jilin Province, and subsequently arrested by officers from the Beicheng Police Station of Shulan County. The police station employed four criminals from Changchun City to torture her. The criminals punched and kicked her, dragged her by the hair and smashed her head against the wall, then force-fed her with mustard oil while she sat on a tiger bench1. The brutal torture lasted twenty-four hours straight. The following day, officers ransacked her home.

Ms. Li Suyun was first taken to the Nanshan Detention Centre in Shunan County, where she was imprisoned for a month, then to the Heizuizi Forced Labour Camp in Changchun for one year. Upon her arrival, she was put in solitary confinement for three months. During her detention, she was not given enough food to sustain herself, not allowed to use a toilet, talk to others, nor allowed to sleep when she failed to fulfil her work quota. She was illegally detained for one year and seven days before being released.

Without an opportunity to complain about the injustice to his wife, her husband took their eight year-old daughter and four year-old son with him to the Heizuizi Forced Labour Camp to request the release of his wife. The children wore signs on their chests with the words "I want my mum!" The police officers dragged them to a vehicle and took them back home.

Mr. He Yaoduo Sentenced to Forced Labour Twice, Left with Broken Home After His Wife Leaves

Mr. He Yaoduo, 42, was from the No. 3 Team, in Minxing Village, Niujia Township, Wuchang. He began practising Falun Gong in 1996, and subsequently all his diseases, including stroke and migraine, disappeared. He lived by the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and was honest and kindhearted. All the villagers said that he was a good man.

Mr. He went to Beijing before 2001 to appeal against the persecution of Falun Gong. He was arrested by a group of officers from the Qianmen Police Station, who punched and kicked him. That evening, they took him to the outskirts of Beijing and locked him in an iron cage for four days. He was hungry, cold and nearly froze to death. Later, Chen Bo, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) secretary of Niujia Township, Wuchang, along with Ren Zhong, head of the police station, led two officers to take him back from Beijing. Mr. He was taken directly to the Wuchang City No. 2 Detention Centre. One month later, he was sentenced to a year of forced labour, and jailed in Wanjia Forced Labour Camp for over 20 days before being transferred to Changlinzi Forced Labour Camp. Li Jinlong, head of the No. 1 Division of Changlinzi Forced Labour Camp, and Yang Jintang, a political instructor, ordered inmates to be Mr. He's personal enforcers. They forced Mr. He to recite the camp regulations and write the "three statements" to renounce practising Falun Gong. When he refused to write, they tortured him with various cruel methods, including being hung up by his handcuffed wrists, forced to sit on a small bench for extended time periods, and kneeling until midnight. Whenever Mr. He could not sustain the torture positions, he was beaten. He was also forced to watch video programmes that slandered Falun Gong. One day, an inmate forced him to wear a prison uniform. He refused, and the inmate struck his face until he couldn't see.

One day, Shi Mao, head of the No. 4 Division, locked Mr. He in a small cell, deprived him of sleep, and forced him to sit on a small stool or stand still for extended periods. One month later, he was transferred to the No. 5 Division, where he endured multiple torture methods which included squatting, depriving him of using a toilet, electric shocks, as well as beatings. He was transferred between the No. 4 and No. 5 Divisions frequently. During his detention, Ren Zhong, head of the Niujia Township Police Station, extorted 7,000 yuan2 from his family.

Mr. He Yaoduo was released in 2003. One day in May of that year, officers from the Niujia Police Station broke into his house and ransacked it. They confiscated DVDs and some posters. Township Party secretary Chen Bo and officer Ren Zhong arrested him at a construction site, then took him to a brainwashing centre in Wuchang Township. Fu Yanchun, deputy head of the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) shocked him with an electric baton. Mr. He was badly injured and on the verge of collapse.

One day while officers were not watching, Mr. He and another practitioner jumped from the third floor and escaped. However, he injured his legs. Two fellow practitioners provided him with accommodations, but later, someone informed the authorities. Officers from the Wuchang 610 Office went to arrest him, but he had already left. The officers fined the two families who kept Mr. He 1,000 yuan each.

Liang Chunxu, head of the Niujia Police Station, Mo Zhenshan, deputy head of the 610 Office, and Zhan Zhigang, head of the State Security Division, led a group of officers to force their way into Mr. He's home, then take him to the Wuchang Brainwashing Centre on April 17th, 2005. He underwent brainwashing for a month, and was then transferred to the No. 2 Detention Centre where he was held for over ten days. He spent 15 days at Wanjia Forced Labour Camp, and was then transferred to Changlinzi Forced Labour Camp after being sentenced to one year of forced labour. During his detention at the forced labour camp, he was forced to do slave labour. When he failed to fulfil his quota, he was deprived of sleep and given an insufficient amount of food.

One day while Mr. He Yaoduo was doing the exercises, some inmates incited by the prison guards severely beat him, bloodying his nose and mouth. They tried to coerce him to betray his fellow practitioners, promising that if he did so, he would get a one-month reduction of his forced labour term. Mr. He refused, so the officials extended his term by a month. He was released after being detained for 13 months.

After returning home, Zhang Bo, along with Tend Ye, head of the Police Station, often led the officers to his home to harass him. As a result, his family could not live a peaceful life. In order to repay the money extorted by the wicked officers during Mr. He's detention, his family had no choice but to sell the piece of land on which they depended for a living. His wife left him, since she could not continue living this way.

Note

1. "Tiger Bench": Prisoners are forced to sit on a small iron bench that is approximately 20 cm (6 inches) tall with their knees tied together. With their hands tied behind their backs or sometimes placed on their knees, they are forced to sit straight up and look straight ahead without movement for long periods of time.

2. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.